GPS Integration

gps

GeoCaching: Students can use GPS units to find treasures hidden all over the world. At Discovery we have 4 Geocache treasure boxes hidden on the school grounds. Third graders went our searching for the boxes using latitude and longitude coordinates. Students can use the Goecaching website to look up coordinates and trek through the woods searching for hidden boxes of trinkets.

Reading: Students can read nonfiction articles on GPS Technology and how it works, and how it is changing how we travel and track movement. The Man Who went to the Far Side of the Moon is a story about the astronaut Michael Collins who stayed orbiting the moon and did not step on the moon’s surface on the Apollo 11 mission.

Technology: GPS units can be sent home with students to find out their latitude and longitude. They then can go on Google Earth to get the coordinates from that source. Using the two sets of coordinate numbers they can determined the difference and write a persuasive essay on which is more accurate.

Science: Studying about our solar system students learn that the Earth revolves making the Moon and Sun move from horizon to horizon. Discussions about the moon traveling in orbit around the Earth explains how the Moon a satellite. The global positioning systems picks up manmade satellite signals and the GPS units pick up signals from 24 satellites circling the globe.

Math: The study of GPS coordinates can be tied to graphing, coordinates, and plotting in common core strands. The students can create coordinate planes and solving real problems they write themselves.

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